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Khürt Williams

Lead Cybersecurity Architect/Vice President

@khurtwilliams Montgomery Township, New Jersey joined May 2004

islandinthenet.com github.com/khurtwilliams Slack: @Khürt Williams

    Bio

    Hi there! I’m an information security architect with a passion for photography—especially wildlife, landscapes, and street scenes. I’m also a UNIX, Linux, and macOS enthusiast. In my free time, I love hiking and exploring the wooded trails around Central New Jersey. I’m a supporter of the IndieWeb movement and enjoy using WordPress to help local organisations, like the Princeton Macintosh Users Group, Montgomery Friends of Open Space, and the Montgomery Business Association, build platforms to share their stories and connect with their communities.

    Interests

    Photography, Walking, Hiking, IndieWeb, Birding

    WordPress Origin Story

    Blogging is where I share my thoughts on everything from open-source software, Apple computers, and Linux to information technology and photography.

    I started blogging regularly back in fall of 2000 and tried hand-coded HTML and different platforms—Radio Userland, Blogger, Moveable Type—before finally landing on WordPress around 2003. Along the way, I taught myself how to build Linux servers, compile Apache from source, and configure MySQL, all because I wanted to create secure and high-performance WordPress servers. I even picked up PHP along the way!

    Badges

    CONTENT
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    Photo Contributor '23

    Current Job

    Lead Cybersecurity Architect/Vice President
    Dec 2024 – Present
    Responsible for enterprise-scale security architecture strategy across cloud and regulated financial platforms, aligning business objectives with regulatory and risk requirements. Partner with Cybersecurity, Engineering, and Technology teams to integrate security into SDLC, DevOps, and Agile environments. Focus areas: cloud security, threat modelling, Zero Trust, IAM, and regulatory compliance (SOX, FFIEC, NIST).

    Job History

    Principal Security Consultant
    Apr 2013 – Dec 2024
    Monkey Hill Consulting, LLC · Freelance
    Independent security architecture practice delivering senior security architecture, risk assessment, and compliance leadership to clients in financial services, fintech, and government, including Santander Holdings USA, CLS Group, and the State of New Jersey Courts. Engagements spanned cloud and on-premises environments across GDPR, ISO 27001, NYDFS, FFIEC, SOX, FINRA, and PCI DSS frameworks, delivered principal-led with no junior staff or subcontractors.

    Key Accomplishments

    Author of Cornerstone, an open-source WordPress theme (github.com/khurtwilliams/cornerstone) with full IndieWeb support — microformats2 markup, ActivityPub federation, and Webmentions integration, passing all IndieWebify.me validation tests. Twelve releases published to date.

    Recent impact

    Score weights high-impact work (commits, releases, approved translations, props) at 3x routine activity.

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    Contributions

    Type
    March 2026
    Mar 25 Wed · 13:05
    Forums med
    Created a topic, Reliable and Transparent WordPress Database Optimisation, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I’ve been using Advanced Database Cleaner on my WordPr…
    April 2025
    Apr 01 Tue · 12:33
    Forums med
    Created a topic, What is “IndieAuth Applications”?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I noticed a blank field labelled “IndieAuth Applicatio…
    December 2024
    Dec 30 Mon · 14:01
    Forums med
    Posted a reply to Issue with Social Notes Redirecting `/sn/` to Random Blog Posts, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @manzoorwanijk @erania-pinnera @alinclamba The problem was due to a conflicting rewrite rule in the .htaccess…
    Dec 30 Mon · 13:12
    Forums med
    Posted a reply to Issue with Social Notes Redirecting `/sn/` to Random Blog Posts, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @manzoorwanijk please read the entire thread before responding. Hello Manzoor, Thank you for your response.…
    Dec 24 Tue · 17:12
    Forums med
    Posted a reply to Issue with Social Notes Redirecting `/sn/` to Random Blog Posts, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @erania-pinnera @alinclamba <h2>Steps Taken to Troubleshoot</h2> Checked for Conflicting Slugs Deleted posts and pages with…
    Dec 24 Tue · 16:56
    Forums med
    Posted a reply to Issue with Social Notes Redirecting `/sn/` to Random Blog Posts, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I disabled all plug-ins leaving only Jetpack Social enabled. The issue persists. Anything else I…
    Dec 11 Wed · 13:46
    Forums med
    Created a topic, Issue with Social Notes Redirecting `/sn/` to Random Blog Posts, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    **Subject:** Issue with Social Notes Redirecting /sn/ …
    Dec 04 Wed · 23:25
    Meta med
    Wrote a comment on the post The Road To 5000 Photos, A Retrospective, on the site Make Photos:
    I only just now learned about the WP Photos project via a link to this…
    Dec 04 Wed · 23:23
    Meta med
    Wrote a comment on the post Announcing the New WordPress Photo Directory Team Representatives, on the site Make Photos:
    Congratulations @mbigul & @nilovelez
    October 2024
    Oct 27 Sun · 18:32
    Forums med
    Posted a reply to New with this plugin: New posts are not shared, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @alias79 your understanding of the settings is correct. Bluesky Domain: Right now, the only Bluesky…